Machine for roughening leather and plastic materials



E. TOUBLANC Oct. 21, 1-952 MACHINE FOR RUGHENING LEATHER AND PLASTIC MATERIALS Filed May 9, 1951 Eag/z'e 70abla/zc W Inventor Attorneys Patented Oct. 21, 1952 MACHINE FOR ROUGHENING LEATHER AND PLASTIC MATERIALS Eugene 'Toublanc, Nantes, France Application May 9, 1951, Serial No. 225,427 In France May 12, 1950 The present invention relates to a machine for roughening the soles and insoles for footwear. In the manufacturing of footwear it becomes more and more the standard practice to glue,

before sewin the sole to the insole in the same manner as products which are simply cemented Without being sewn. v

This operation consists in the following steps: roughening of the surfaces to be'glued for a good penetrationof the glue, application'of glue, drying', placing of the surfaces in mutual contact and finally pressing by hydraulic or pneumatic pressure toensure a good setting.

Known roughening methods are inadequate and; in most cases they consist in holding the sole or the insole in the hands and inapplying it against a moving metal brush or an emery cloth. The process is long, tedious, costly in man-hours anddang'erous, as the roughening element cannot be. protected and may injure the operator. In

addition, the roughening is irregular, too inor shred the material 3 to be roughened. The l material 3, such as'a sole or insole,s1ides on a table 4 and an upper cylinder presses on the material 3 during the operation to prevent the spikes from driving away the material 3.

' This method has a serious drawback. To opjerate efficiently the drum must protrude above the table 4 and, therefore, the latter must be provided with a relatively large opening to allow the passage of the protruding portion of the drum I and its spikes 2.

When the sole is first engaged with the drum 1.

y it is largely in an overhanging position and the spikes 2 are biting more than normally due to the pressure of the upper rollers, this is a serious idrawback. Moreover, when the sole is almost entirely roughened, the rear end, which is still engaged, also assumes an overhanging position;

the spikes have a still greater effect due to their direction of rotation, they penetrate deeply the surface of the sole, literally eating away the rear end thereof, thereby reducing its'thickness by a substantial degree.

The main objectof the present invention is to obviate the above mentioned drawbacks. Another object'of the present invention is topro- Claims. (01.69-1) vide a machine with which it will be very easy to roughen the exact area 'of the outer face of the sole onto which the heel will be glued, that is, on the grain side for leather soles and on the pattern side for rubber soles.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine for roughening leather according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of a detail showing the 'mounting'of the roughening blades;

Figure 3 blade;

Figure 3a is aside elevation of the same;

Figure 4 is a view in elevation showing the roughening blades and the sole feeding cylinders;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the operation roughening the sole at the exact location of the heel;

Figure 6 is a plan view similar to Figure 5, showing a modification; and

Figure 7 shows a conventional roughening machine as described hereabove. v

In the drawings, like reference characters indicate like elements throughout.

The machine, according to the invention, comprises an upper frame '6 pivoted at 1 on the lower is an end elevation of a roughening frame 8.

The purpose of this pivotal mounting is to make it possible to lift the upper mechanism completely to gain access to the roughening blades and the lower mechanism.

A locking crank 9 on each side of the'upper frame 5 'makes'it possible to maintain this frame in the working position, i. e. folded back on the lower frame 8.

The most important parts in the present invention are two'straight comb-like blades l 0 provided on their two end faces with very sharp teeth 12, and driven with a very rapid vibratory motion in the horizontal plane, such that each blade will move at any instant,in a direction opposite to the displacement of the other one,

the sole being driven transversely of and pressed against these sharp teeth.

The roughening blades ID, the design of which will be easily understood from an examination of Figures 3 and 3a, consist in a fiat bar of very hard steel provided on a side face with transverse parallel grooves l I of triangular section. The two end faces are bevelled preferably at a 45 angle so that teeth l2, which have sharp points, are formed.

The interest of this design resides in the fact that when the teeth l2 have lost their sharp said blades.

edges due to wear, it will be sufficient to grind them again to the same angle.

Of course these roughening blades ID may be designed differently and may consist, for instance, of fine needles mounted on a metal base.

Apart from this facility for sharpening the blades 10, the interest offered by the embodiment thus chosen will become apparent in what follows. 7

The roughening blades I!) are two in number and are mounted face to face at a short distance apart on two metal supports [3 and clamped by countersunk bolts and nuts l3.

These two support members l3 are provided at one end with a downwardly depending arm l4 carrying a roller [5. Each roller l5 bears onto a cam l6 of a camshaft l6 under the actionof a traction spring 11.

It will be easily understood that the rotation of the camshaft l6 causes a displacementof the rollers l5 which, in turn, will cause an alternating longitudinal displacement of the supports l3 and blades H]. The cams I6 will be so arranged that the two blades II) will move in-opposite directions at any instant.

According to cases and needs, there may be one or more vibrations of each blade 10 per turn of crankshaft l6 according to the shape of the earns 16'.

The support members I3 are each mounted onseveral fiat spring blades 18 (Figure .1) which are secured at their lower end to a stand. l9 which may be vertically adjusted by the action of ramps 21 of the member 2| movable horizontally by means of the adjusting bolt 2E1 slidably passing through the frame 8 and threadedly engaging the said member 2 l .Stops 4| mounted on the frame .8 opposite the ends of the stand I9 prevent horizontal displacement. of thelatter.

Thus the extent to which the teeth 12 of blades .IO protrude through the .narrow slot 23 of the table 22 above the level of the latter may be adjusted at will in order to suitably vary the roughening depth in the material passing over .said table 22.

tary roughening devices of the type shown in .Figure 7 is eliminated.

The fact that the end face of the roughening blades Ill is bevelled causes the transversely movingmaterial to climb over the ramp thus formed before actually reaching the teeth l2; consequently, the sole is not drawn downwardly and,

due to this fact, its thickness is not decreased by the tearing oif of deep fibres as is the case inother systems.

The material to be roughened is moved transversely of the blades If! over the table 22 by means of two feeding cylinders 26 (see Figure 4) parallel to said blades and protruding through openings made in said table 22 on both sides of The feeding cylinders 26 are rotated .by means of worms 25 mounted on cam- .shaft 16 and, meshingwith worm gears..24..re-

spectively keyed to the shafts 39 of said cylinders 26.

Thus the leading cylinder 26 feeds the material over the blades I0, and the rear cylinder removes said material to maintain a continuous forward movement of the same.

Above the table 22, which is supported by the upper frame 6, are journalled on members 38 mounted within said frame 6, three cylinders 21, connected with each other by rubber belts 31. The two outer cylinders 2'! ensure the contact of the material to be roughened with the'two feeding cylinder 26, while the central cylinder '21 presses this same material against the roughening blades 10.

The assembly of the three upper cylinders connected by belts thus rotates at the same speed as the material to be roughened and this assembly is urged downwardly by pressure springs to equalize thickness differences.

Each one ofthe three upper cylinders 21 is resiliently connected to the frame members 38 in order to. have a vertical displacement, made necessary by thickness differences in the material, without modifying the positions ofthe two other cylinders and conversely. Each one of the cylinders is thus independent of the othersas to its vertical displacements.

The camshaft assembly rotates in .an oil .bath 28 (Figure 1).

The operation of the machine, therefore, isas follows: a continuous rotational motion is imparted to the camshaft. IS; the cams I6 cause a rapid horizontal oscillation of the roughening blades It] by means of the rollers 15.

The camshaft Worms 25 drive, ina continuous motion, the two feeding cy1inders..26. Ifashoe .sole 34, for instance, is introduced on the. table 22, it is pressed against the first. feeding cylinder 26 and directed towards and transverselyof the vibrating blades I!) which fulfill their function, the sole being pressed by the central .upper cylinder 21 against said. blades [0. Y

When thesole has been roughened, the third cylinder ensures its evacuation.

When the blades I!) need re-grinding, the .lever B is turned and the table 22 and upper cylinders 21, depending from the frame sections 6, are lifted together, thus exposing the entire mechanism so that the blades"! can easilybe removed.

A grindstone (not shown) may. be mounted on the machine for a rapid grinding.

The second operation performed by themachine, according to the invention, isthe rough- .ening on the grain side for leather soles andon the pattern side for rubber soles, attheexact location of the heel. A device is mounted for this purpose on the side of the machine, on the bracket 29. It comprises a carriage 30 mounted on rollers 3 I, rolling over rails ill-associated with a platform 32 supported by said bracket 29.

If it is desired to use heels in which the instep portion is straight, the sole 34, Figures land 5, is placed on the carriage 30 at a location indicated by marks for each size and the carriage and sole are pushed .so as to engage the ends of the blades 10. The limit of ,roughening is. thus a straight line 33. If, on the otherhand, itisdesired to use heels having a curved .instep,.a turn table 42 is used instead of the carriage.30,-,to be rotatably mounted on the axle 35. Figure 6 shows at 33 the result obtained.

It should be understood that the roughening blades ID are drivenin Opposite directions with respect to each other, the one moving towards the right while the other moves towards the left, this combined motion having the effect of opposing the driving which might occur of the roughening machine itself by the blades H], which would be detrimental to a regular roughening by causing the material to be roughened to oscillate at the frequency of the roughening blades.

The present invention is not limited to the present description but covers various modifications, even if less practical, such as replacing the described roughening blades by other toothed combs, or by endless chains moving in opposite directions on sprockets, In any case, the roughening is linear and not rotary, and the roughening members go through a narrow slot thus preventing the material to be roughened from getting caught in the roughening members.

What I claim is:

1. A roughening machine of the character described comprising a table for supporting the material to be roughened and having a narrow slot, a pair of spaced elongated roughening members having teeth projecting through said slot, means to impart to said members a longitudinal vibratory movement and means for feeding said a side face provided with transverse grooves of triangular section and at least one bevelled end face so as to form pointed teeth on said end face. 5. A machine as claimed in claim 4, including supporting means for said plates, said means comprising a horizontally disposed support member on which said plate is removably secured, a lower horizontal stand and spring blades connecting said support member to said stand.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 5 including horizontally displaceable ramp member engaging co-operating faces of said stand and means to 9. A machine as claimed in claim 8, further including a pressure roller disposed above and opposite said roughening members.

10. A roughening machine comprising in combination a lower frame section, an upper frame section pivotally mounted on said lower frame section to take an operative position over the latter and an inoperative position uncovering the same, a table for supporting the sheet material to be roughened secured underneath said upper frame section and having a narrow elongated slot made therethrough, closely spaced parallel elongated roughening members horizontally movable and resiliently mounted within said lower frame section and having upwardly extending teeth protruding through said table slot when said upper frame section is in said operative position, means to impart to said roughening members a longitudinal vibratory movement and means for feeding said sheet material over said table and transversely of said roughening members, so constructed and arranged that access to the latter is made possible when said upper frame section is in said inoperative position.

EUGENE TOUBLANC.

No references cited. 

